Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-04-25
Infantry in war-Tho Frenoh Rine

lnlhuAFN IN wa he NhNAiNh NAAi''
The fate Of all great battles has ~.
most invariably depended upon iho
efficiency of the infantry. The Mac
edonian phalanN OF Alexander, the
tenth legion Of Caesar. the English
infantry Of Black Prince, the spanish
infantry Of Charles y, the grenadicr
guards OF Frederick the Great, the
imperial guard Of Napoleon, the Brit
ish infantry Of Give and Wellington.
the ''Stoncwall brigade" of Jackson,
the Prussian infantry of Germany
these have snccessively been the
great factors Of victory. Therefore.
the development of infantry tactics
and arms has always been the object
Of great generals. The substitution
OF the iron for wooden ramrpd hy
Frederick the Great made the prus-
sian infantry able o. fire more rapidly
than their opponents, and win the
victories which introduced Prussia ns
a military power. Napoleon, chang
ing the principle Of infantry tactics
from the volley fire 10 the sliumish
fire, revolutionized warfare. and laid
down the principle that the fire, aud
not the mass Of infantry, was H.
best work. Wellington. carrying ont
this idea, trusted 10 the "thin red
line"-infantry Ia line ~ battle and
not in column; Vet In those days tho
infantry arm was the smooth-borc
musket of very short range Tho
the rifle was furnished 10 the flank
companies Of regiments and 90 spec
ial corps fifty years ago, Il was not
with rifed muskets, the use Of which
made the fate Of heavy columns Of
attack against steady troops "A fore
gone conclusion witness our attack
on Marye's heights at FredricksburR,
and Pickett's charge at Gettysburg.
The development Of infantry fire has,
in fact, rclegatcd the bayonet 30 the
linbo Of medimval pixies and Roman
swords, and has converted cavalry into
the eyes and ears Of the army rather
than It's mailed arm la the decisive
moment Of battle. A cavalry charge
is magnificent, bat ID Is not wal"
as the French General Bosquet said
of the cha ge OF Balaalaya. The
cavalry sabre has been driven from
the battlefield by the revolver and
rife ia the Franco-German war,
with 10000 German cavalry and
nearly AZ many French cavalry, the
hospital returns show that there were
only PIP wounded by sabres and
butts of muskets all told. AZ Sedan
squadron of the hussars OF the
French imperial guard charged Che
German skirmish line at 900 yards
distant none of their bodies were
found nearer than 100 yards three
fourths OF the squadron fen IA gal
looping 300 yards. Such was the ter
rible work OF the breech-loadinp nee.
dle gun. The French army IL now
armed with a magazine rifle which
possess all the above qualifications
the "Chalons rifle invented by Col.
Lebel, superintendent OF the infan-
try school at Chalons. The range OF
the Chalons rife is unprecedented
at 1000 yards il effects are frghtfuli
the ball leaves the rifle with vel0ci.
" of 800 feet a second and revolyes
5000 times a second It's point blank
range is 500 yards. The calibre has
been reduced to thirty-two hundredthH
OF an inch, aud the lead proiectlc
covered with thin coating OF steel
and brass, 80 that II may take the ri-
fe grooves without leading them in
the quickness Of revolution ~ the
proiectile in the barrel The impor.
tance Of infantry armed with guns
having point-blank range of 300
yards can hardly be- oTer-estimatcd
the uso ~ smokeless powder fr-
moves one Of the greatest difficulties
to quick-fring rifles the use Of mag
azine guns, like the Chalona n1c,
makes il practically impossible Tor an
enemy b. cross the death-swcpt zone
Of 500 yards in front of them. The
result 81 such arms 81 precision tends
10 make statesmen hesitate upon In
vadinR rivals territory and even
II war dOes take place, the distance
is increased between the oombatant
armies on the Geld Of battle, aud
thereby the loss Of life is relatively
smaller than formerly generals are
obliged 20 resort more aud more 30
strategic movements o. compel their
- abandon strong posi-
tions, and thus it happens that lOss
Of life in battle diminishos with the
Improvements in military arms
BOsfOH Herald.